My name is William W. Slattery, enrolled in the Civilian
Conservation Corps at age 18 in South Dakota and served at Camp Lightning
Creek, nine miles west of Custer, South Dakota in the storied Black Hills.

My Camp served the United States Forest Service (F14) in
construction, forest fire fighting and forest preservation (thinning, etc.)
My specialty was leadershiip and stone masonry.

As an enrollee of 21 months I had two promotions: 1. Assistant
Leader ($36 a month) 2. Leader ($45). I assisted Civilian foremen with work
crews and barracks discipline.

In the C.C.C. my camp company was #791. I
played on the camp basketball and baseball teams. My summer work was mostly
as stone mason on the construction of a new Harney Peak lookout tower and
in the winters stone-work construction of an organization camp called the
Bob Marshall Organization camp.

After a few months out of the Cs I joined the U..S. Navy
in World War II, January 15, 1942. I graduated from high school at the little
town of Spencer, South Dakota just before reaching the age of 18 in 1939.
Upon leaving the Navy in 1945 I enrolled at the University of South Dakota
and was graduated in 1948.

As I write this in the year 2001, November, the buildings
we built in the CCCs, the lookout tower and the Marshall camp, still stand.
I enjoyed the Civilian Conservation Corps. I am now 80 years old and a retired
news writer. My address is P.O. Box 90855, White Mountain Lake, AZ...
85912.